FA Women’s League Cup 2022/23: How Aston Villa exploited Manchester United’s defensive weaknesses to make a successful comeback – tactical analysis

Aston Villa Women hosted Manchester United Women for the FA Womens League Cup 2022/23 group stage fixture and the hosts were able to beat the Red Devils thanks to penalties after finishing regular time with a 1-1 draw. Aston Villa will therefore be having the advantage over their direct rival in the group stage, Manchester United, after getting this precious win. This will give Aston Villa a bigger chance of qualification to the next round if they keep their good run of form going and finish at the top of Group A which contains Aston Villa, Manchester United, Durham, Sheffield United and Everton.

With this win, Aston Villa have confirmed once again that they are starting the season in a very special and positive way as they won against Manchester City 4-3 before beating Leicester City 0-2 in an away game. And by winning against Manchester United, they put themselves in a very comfortable situation both in the FAWSL and in the FA Womens League Cup as well.

Nevertheless, the players should keep their feet on the ground and approach every upcoming game with the same determination and realism in order to keep their winning streak for as long as possible. On the other side, Manchester United lost for the first time this season after beating PSG in the pre-season and after starting the FAWSL with a big 4-0 win over Reading and a 0-2 away win against West Ham. Even though this loss will not affect the team’s journey a lot since it was a group stage match and not a knockout or in the FAWSL, the team should not get used to such results and have to get back on track quickly to make up for this loss and challenge for a top FA Womens League Cup spot in order to qualify for the next round.

In this tactical analysis article, we will be exploring how Aston Villa and Manchester United cancelled each other tactically and how Aston Villa had the chance to win without resorting to penalties. Therefore, the focus will mainly be on Aston Villa’s attacking tactics and the analysis will also include Manchester United’s reaction, performance and weaknesses.

Lineups

Aston Villa started this match in the 4-1-4-1 formation with Anna Leat as a goalkeeper, Sarah Mayling, Rachel Corsie, Danielle Turner and Mayumi Pacheco in defence, Olivia McLoughlin just in front of the defensive line, Kenza Dali and Rachel Daly as central midfielders, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah and Alisha Lehmann as wingers while Emily Gielnik was the team’s striker.

On the other hand, Manchester United opted for the 4-2-3-1 formation with Sophie Baggaley as the goalkeeper, Maria Thorisdóttir, Aïssatou Tounkara, Maya Le Tissier and Ona Batlle in defence, Vilde Bøe Risa and Jade Moore as central midfielders, Nikita Parris and Adriana Leon as wingers, and Lucy Staniforth as an advanced playmaker behind the striker, Martha Thomas.

Aston Villa’s convincing attacking performance

Aston Villa approached this game in the best of ways as they started the match with an attacking approach and tried to threaten their opponent early in the match thanks to their wide players and their through passes towards the box and specifically towards Daly and Gielnik.

Daly had some free